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(http://www.crucial.com/system scanner/). Once you install the new RAM and boot up your computer, it should recognize the increased memory right away and make use of it. (While you've got your computer opened up, it's not a bad idea to take a can of compressed air and clean out all the dust mites and dirt particles that accumulate over time.)

- Adjusting/disabling the page file

Windows uses a "page file" or "swap file" to store programs that are being run in the background when it runs out of RAM to use. The page file is a section of the hard drive, which runs much slower than RAM, but sometimes is necessary if the processor doesn't have all the RAM it needs. Many technicians will tell you to disable the page file altogether, so that Windows isn't tempted to use it and will instead just use RAM, but if you do not have enough RAM, you may not be able to run all the programs you want to run. A good solution is to make sure the page file is set to a size at least slightly larger than the amount of RAM you have. For example, if your computer has 1 GB of RAM, set the page file to 1.2 or 1.3 GB. You can access the page file settings by clicking Start Menu > My Computer, then right-clicking and selecting Properties. Select the Advanced tab and under Performance, click Settings. Again select the Advanced tab, and under Virtual Memory, click Change. Windows will show you the current page file sizes for all available volumes and allow you to change them, but you have to restart the computer for the changes to take effect.

Under Performance Options, there's also a tab called Visual Effects. Here you can customize some of Windows' visual options, or select "Adjust for best performance" to reduce the amount of system resources spent on making folders and menus look better.

- Defragment your hard drive

As files are saved and deleted on your hard drive, they aren't always stored in the most efficient way. You should periodically run the Disk Defragmenter to optimize file storage, which will decrease the time it takes Windows to find and access files. To run the defragmenter, click on Start Menu > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter. Select the drive(s) you want to defragment and choose "Analyze," and the computer will tell you if you need to defragment that volume or not. NOTE: You should have at least 15% free space on a drive before attempting to defragment it.

If none of these solutions helps, you may have a virus, spyware, or adware slowing down your computer. Run a couple of different programs to try to remove any malicious software - there are many good free programs, including AVG Anti-Virus, Windows Defender, CA Anti-Spy, SUPERAntiSpyware, and Adaware. There are also "registry cleaner" programs you can buy (most will let you run a trial version) that can remove broken and outdated entries from your system's registry, which will also increase your system performance.

Learn more about this author, Greg Schwartz.
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